clavicle

American  

[klav-i-kuhl] / ˈklæv ɪ kəl /

noun

Anatomy, Zoology.

1. a bone of the pectoral arch.

2. (in humans) either of two slender bones, each articulating with the sternum and a scapula and forming the anterior part of a shoulder; collarbone.

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clavicle British  

/ kləˈvɪkjʊlə, kləˈvɪkjʊˌleɪt, ˈklævɪkəl /

noun

1. Nontechnical name: collarbone.  either of the two bones connecting the shoulder blades with the upper part of the breastbone

2. the corresponding structure in other vertebrates

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clavicle Scientific  

/ klăv′ĭ-kəl /

1. Either of two slender bones that extend from the upper part of the sternum (breastbone) to the shoulder.

2. Also called collarbone

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Other Word Forms

• clavicular
  adjective
• claviculate
  adjective
• subclavicular
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of clavicle

1605–15; < Medieval Latin clāvicula collarbone, Latin: tendril, door-bolt, little key, equivalent to clāvi ( s ) key + -cula -cule ¹

Explanation

The clavicle, more commonly known as the collarbone, connects your shoulder blade to you sternum. The clavicle is the only long horizontal bone in the body (all the other long bones are vertical, such as those in the arms and legs). It evolved to provide a structural support for the arms, and also to serve as protection around blood vessels and nerves in that part of the body. The clavicles of birds are Y-shaped and, on a holiday turkey, are also called the "wishbone."

Example Sentences

If the Os Innominatum be broken, the Spica is to be us'd after it hath been dress'd, of which Bandage we have given an Account in the Fracture of the Clavicle.

From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel

The first of the Openers is the Latus, which beginning at the top of the Sternum, Clavicle, and Acromion, cleaves on the outside to the bottom of the Lower-Jaw-Bone.

From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel

The Scalenus or Triangularis hath two remote Sources, viz. one in the first Rib, and the other in the Clavicle, and is fasten'd to the third and fourth Vertebra of the Neck.

From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel

Clavicle, klav′i-kl, n. an important part of the pectoral girdle of vertebrates, best known in the collar-bone of man and in the merry-thought of birds—also Clavic′ula.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Are the same with those that we have already shewn, in treating of the Fracture of the Clavicle.

From The Compleat Surgeon or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method. by Le Clerc, Charles Gabriel